July 02
2009

A review of the Dollhouse Season One DVD boxset.
Since Fox doesn't want 'Epitath One' leaking before its Comic Con debut, the reviewers are getting sent 3 discs instead of 4. So reviews in the next few weeks will only be able to focus on the aired episodes and the commentaries for 'Ghost' and 'Man on the Street'.

My initial reaction was that Joss's commentary on "Out of Gas" is one of my favorite commentary tracks ever... and then I double-checked and realized I was thinking of "Objects in Space." I always get those two confused.

How hard, or expensive, would it have been to make review DVDs with everything but Epitaph One?

Obviously, very.

I mean I get it that it's additional costs. I get it that they think that there will be no harm in some pissed off reviewers (since Joss- and Dollhouse-fans probably buy DVDs regardless of their critical acclaim). But it's still kind of a rude way to alienate the media. The same media they actually need to hype the show over the summer.

I think the media needs to get over the complex that they are always and at every moment entitled to more special treatment than fans.

Well, yeah, sure, but I can assure you there are a lot of people reviewing stuff in the media that are actual fans of the stuff they're reviewing. It's not so clear-cut. :)

Once you start reviewing stuff you care about for next to nothing, it's not special treatment anymore. It's service and work. The reasons I stopped writing reviews for established media were primarily: a) The media started thinking that the CD or DVD you get to review is "payment enough" and b) the entertainment industry on the other side gradually stopped sending out actual review copies. I can't live on a myspace-link.

It didn't feel like special treatment at all, considering that every fan out there had no actual disadvantage: The stuff leaks anyway.

The commentaries sound good, that atleast is a positive thing. (I've been trying to listen to some of the SFU commentaries today, couldn't get into them at all (not even the Michael C. Hall/Lauren Ambrose one!) made me realise how good the Whedon ones (some of which I've listened to more than once!) really are.

The lack of a longer cut of Omega is a real shame, it still is my favourite ep of the season, but it does feel like somethings are missing from it. Though I suppose it's good that there is no shorter runtime mentioned, so most likely the eps will be in the cuts they were broadcast in.

Yeah, it's very silly protectiveness indeed doyn. Unless the episode is bad, this is really stupid.

It serves no purpose: people who don't want to buy the DVD but are only interested in Epitaph One and want to download it instead can still do so after the dvd-release. People who do want to buy the DVD, but would like to already download this most likely watched the first 12 eps already. Why would we suddenly lose interest in the DVD-set if we saw the final ep too? I don't really see it.

On the other hand I do see how this silly protectiveness could damage the show. Asside from alienating the press, they're removing a possible reason for critical acclaim for both the DVD and the show and things like pulling the Australian airing not only mean less advertising revenue, but also less of a chance of selling the show. If the ep was really good it circulating on the web could even have brought in new viewers for season 2.

And yet,wiesengrund, I've seen more than one media person bitching that they didn't get disc 4. (I don't mean the way C.A. Bridges addresses it; I mean outright petulance.) They need to just suck it up. Critic entitlement is no better than fan entitlement.

What the Hell is wrong with the studio and the creatives saying "let's let the fans have this one first, for once"? Nothing.

and while he doesn’t provide any answers, he does address the questions head on. Is it right to sell people if they’ve previously agreed to be sold? Once a person has agreed to let their body be used, does it make a difference who’s using it? If you don’t remember what happened to you, did it really happen? What makes a person want to rent another human being? What person would consent to be rented, and why? And when you take away a person’s memories, is there anything left?

This. Yes. Because Dollhouse isn't a show about providing answers. (or TV shows aren't about that at all according to Joss, compared to movies) Dollhouse is a show about asking questions.

Cynics might argue that it adds to the belief that Fox thinks Dollhouse is only good for the diehard Joss fans.

In that case, I'm a cynic then. I honestly think that giving out "Epitaph One" to the media and letting them hype this mighty mysterious episode could have won back new interest in the show. Especially by people who lost interest along the way (Dollhouse lost half it's premiere audience). These are the people who might actually be convinced to give it another try, if they read everywhere how awesome this show became by the end of S1.